SMC wrestler goes from bartending to the mat

Despite several years away from the sport, Byrnes product John Allen Griswold has emerged as a leader for the Pioneers, who are 6-0 against four-year NCAA programs.

By TODD SHANESYtodd.shanesy@shj.com

The bartender, a local high school wrestling legend, unexpectedly quit so he could return to competition and join a roster full of kids not even old enough to drink beer.So far, it's worked to perfection.Together, they have led Spartanburg Methodist College to the best start in school history. SMC, a junior college, is 6-0 in dual meets against four-year NCAA programs.John Allen Griswold, who graduated from Byrnes High School in 2007, won the state tournament as a senior, finished 51-0 and earned a full scholarship at Appalachian State. He was there only one season.“I didn't do too hot with my grades,” Griswold said. “I went home and took a little break.”Last year at this time, he was an assistant coach at Byrnes and working at Wild Wing Café in Spartanburg.“I missed wrestling, but I never really thought about doing it again,” Griswold said. “I was enjoying my life and making pretty good money tending bar.”He started to get the itch, however. He watched those high school wrestlers and knew he had unfinished business on the mat. He washed those glasses and knew there was something more for him.That's where SMC head coach Rob Sater and his father/assistant, Bob Sater, came in. They believed Griswold could still be an outstanding college wrestler. They also knew he would be instrumental in helping an extremely young team, which has 15 freshmen on a roster of 17. Griswold is the only sophomore in the 10-member starting lineup.“Papa Sater and Rob were working on me,” Griswold said with a smile. “But it was already starting to nag at me that I still had eligibility left. I love the sport and I had decided that I wanted to come back and wrestle and get a college degree. I let them know what I wanted to do and that SMC was a good place for me to do it.”Griswold is 13-2 in his comeback, wrestling now as a heavyweight six years after being in the 189-pound class in high school. SMC got not only his talent on the mat, but an unofficial coach as well.“On the van rides back and forth to matches, he's always telling us what we've done wrong and how to get better,” said freshman Ian Clevenger from Boiling Springs High School. “It's like having another coach, but I think of him more as a big brother.”Rob Sater said he wasn't sure what to expect, at least this early, with Griswold.“Regardless of what his record was going to be, I wanted leadership from him,” Sater said. “But everything is coming back quicker than I thought. He's done an amazing job. …He had a lot of pressure on him. They all remember watching him. I think he was the best local wrestler we've had around here in a long time, maybe ever. Coming back after half a decade was not easy. There was a lot of expectation from outside and also from within, I'm sure.”SMC is on a six-week break between the first and second halves of the season. The Pioneers most recently beat East Tennessee State, 40-11, and Georgia Southern, 42-9.Clevenger, picked by teammates as a co-captain along with Griswold, is 15-4. Hector Contreras from Dorman is 13-5 and Deandre Johnson from Beaufort (Battery Creek) is 14-3. Also among the regulars in the lineup are Harrison Stridiron (Spartanburg High), Cody Simpson (Byrnes), Jacob Cannon (Dorman), Ryan Gruver (Dorman), Alex Jones (Wilson, N.C.) and Cole Leighton (Swannanoa, N.C.).Others on the team are Chris Flynn (Boiling Springs), Michael Morrison (Boiling Springs), Jonathan Riley (Berea), Kendall Whitt (Mauldin), Daniel Gary (Laurens), Desmond Hood (Lancaster) and Nicholas Hughes (Chester), the only sophomore besides Griswold.Sater, an English teacher at Boiling Springs, gets help not only from his father but also assistants Kane Pruitt and Wells Shepard. Mikey Clevenger, Ian's older brother and former SMC standout who graduated last year, is set to join the staff next semester.“I have fantastic assistant coaches,” Sater said. “I get here a little late every day and they already have the guys stretched out and working. There is also a lot of responsibility on the guys to work out on their own. It's hard for somebody brand-new to college. It's different when you have upperclassmen leading the way. But they're all freshmen and that's why Griswold is so important.“The guys who have stuck it out have bought into the hard work and the family aspect we try to incorporate into everything we do. Every time they go out there, they believe they should win. They don't care who they are wrestling against.”Griswold, while helping the others reach for greatness, also is helping to keep them humble.“They don't realize how big what they are doing is,” he said. “It's good that way.”